Stoner Fam, I decided to change my blog from a cannabis enthusiast blog to a fasting blog since I’ve resumed alternate day fasting, but never fear, I’m still a happy stoner and will be enjoying cannabis on my eat/up days and will comment on those experiences, too. Thanks so much for sticking around with me over the years 🍀 it means a lot to me.

This is not my first time doing modified alternate day fasting, or ADF, and after trying many ways of eating in the past, this is the only one I have been able to stick to for any length of time. ADF for me means consuming 0-800 calories on the fast or “down day”, and eating what I want on the eat, or “up day”. I do try and stick to around 600 calories on the down days as best I can.

I lost 30 pounds doing this once and am angry at myself for not sticking to it, so I’m back on the program for good this time and want to hold myself accountable by logging my daily intake honestly here.

Traditional calorie restriction diets or eliminating entire food groups have never worked for me; all that did was make me binge eat later on the very things I told myself I couldn’t have and then hate myself later for failing. Dieting and depriving myself of what I want every single day until reaching a goal weight actually caused me to gain weight in the end. The best diet there is, is the one you can actually stick to and be consistent with, and for me that has been modified alternate day fasting as referenced by Dr. Michael Mosley and Dr. Krista Varady. What that means is, one day you fast on 0-800 calories, and the next day you can eat what you want, repeat. It’s that simple. In the past after a certain point I was able to do zero calorie fast days, but since I’m starting over I’ll be in the 0-800 calorie range for a while.

For the past week I’ve been eating a hamburger salad and a scrambled egg & cheese dish on my down days:

These 580 calories contain a lot of protein, which helps lower your hunger hormone, ghrelin, and I go to bed without a grumbly tummy on this combo, so it’s one I will continue to use until I get bored. The fat content also helps me feel full for a long time. I must admit, I love the challenge of fitting in as much filling food as I can into around 600 calories as possible, it’s a bit of a game to me.

Today was supposed to be a down day but it was the only time I could meet with a dear friend I haven’t seen in a while so I allowed myself a 1300 calorie Chinese food dish for lunch and made my down day an omad, or “one meal a day”, another type of fast day, instead. I will modify my up day tomorrow accordingly by eating no more than the midpoint between my TDEE and BMR, which is 1753 calories (as opposed to just eating what I want like I normally would on an up day). I love how flexible fasting can be!

I enjoy cooking and am very lucky to work from home where I can make healthy meals from my kitchen with fewer temptations – when I was in the office downtown there were lots of great food carts and restaurants, not to mention bagels & cream cheese, pizza, and doughnuts during meetings that would keep me from eating the lunch I brought with me from home and derail my goals.

This ends my introduction. I’ll report in on my modified up day tomorrow!

Are you an alternate day faster? What has your experience with it been like? Feel free to answer in the comment box below or email me at eatfastrepeat@mail.com

Hugs, Lou